Colin Firth biography

Mamma Mia!

The son of two university lecturers, Colin Firth was born in England's Hampshire county. His first acting experience came in school when he played Jack Frost in a Christmas pantomime. Three of his four grandparents were Methodist missionaries and he spent his early childhood in Nigeria, returning to England at age five where he entered a comprehensive school in Winchester.

Colin eventually enrolled in a drama centre in London. While playing Hamlet in a school production during his final term, the actor was "discovered," and he went on to make his London stage debut in the West End production of Another Country. From this performance, he was chosen to play the character of Judd in the movie of the play.

Despite such an auspicious beginning to his career, Colin spent the rest of the decade and half of the next working in relative obscurity. He starred in a number of television productions—including the highly acclaimed 1993 Hostages—and worked steadily in film.

Some of his more notable work included A Month in the Country, in which he played a World War I veteran opposite Kenneth Branagh and Natasha Richardson, and Valmont, Milos Forman's 1989 adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, in which Colin starred in the title role. For his portrayal of Robert Lawrence in the 1989 TV production Tumbledown, he received the Royal Television Society Best Actor award and also a BAFTA nomination.

Then a mini-series came along that changed his life. In 1995, he landed a role for the television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Colin played Mr. Darcy, one of literature's most obstinate lovers with surly, understated charisma. The short series didn't seem long enough as it induced record increases in estrogen levels on both sides of the Atlantic. Colin caused many a viewer to wonder where he had been for so long and suddenly he was propelled into the media spotlight. For his role, he also received the Royal Television Society Best Actor award and a BAFTA nomination.

Colin shares a son with co-star Meg Tilly from the film Valmont (1989), and dated co-star Jennifer Ehle while filming the 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice. In June of 1997, he married Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli and they have two sons—Luca and Matteo. When not working, he is involved with several refugee rights and social justice organizations, including Oxfam and Survival.